Within the next few years I'm going to be doing an engine conversion on my 180sx. Currently it's running a silver top sr20 n/a. I'm going to either swap in a turboed sr (blacktop topnotch version) or a rb26det (single turbo conversion)
The goal for the car is to be a daily but semi show car. I'm not looking for massive amounts of power but I will be rebuilding the engine, forged internals, cams, etc etc.
The at I assume will be easy, out with the old in with the new basically. And the rb will take more work, R32 front front end, ecu, wiring, tail shaft, gearbox, sump, brakes, and a few other things. Has anyone done a rb26 in a 180 in this forum that's can help out with pros vs cons and questions about it?
I'd like the car to be clean have a working aircon, reliable, and handle like its on rails. Cheers in advance

Let me address something really quick
Yes i had a mint s14 track car with killer reliable Sr setup
yes i re-shelled into 350z vert
yes i parted it out due to a failed relationship and losing my house
yes i f**ked around with a heap of shit box's for a year or so working part time with f**k all cash to finish anything.
Now i moved back to my home town and working full time at my old job. Sold up everything and started fresh. Here it is
The kranzes were awesome but i didnt want to buy a heap more of them, and didnt want to destroy them so they have moved on.
The front got a cut
And then tubed it all together, used some trick rose joints to make most of it adjustable and get the fit just right. And a bit nicer than just some bolted up tube.
Just finished removing seam sealer and sound deadener from wheel archs and bay, finished stitch welding one side but got other side to go then engine bay will get painted.
Rear copped a pretty decent chop aswell, got some more i want to take out tho.

I have for sale a bee*R rev limiter, it's in vgc brand new never used. I took it out of the box but never got to install it in my car before I sold it, suits all rotary, 4 and 6 cylinder engines. Asking for $150 but I'm negotiable.

Hi guys, this is my 1994 Nissan RPS13 180sx, have been building it for the last 3 years off an on, mostly off haha, but have decided to get it finished an road legal in new zealand again.
Engine/Engine Bay
- 100km from Japanese spares blacktop sr20det
- Sinco top mount
- Sinco pipping
- Sinco Re circ system
- Sinco Catch can
- Sinco modified apexi 3.35inch exhaust, apexi cannon for street, Sinco twin pipes for track
- DSR 430 turbo
- TiAL 38mm mvs watercooled wastegate
- TiAL 50mm bov
- Mild porting(flapper wheel)
- Red Anodized Pulleys
- Metal headgasket
- Oil filter relocation kit
- Greddy style winged sump, holds 6.5 liters of HKS Racing oil
- Greedy style plenum
- ID1000cc Injectors
- HKS copy fuel rail
- Xtreme Heavy duty racing clutch
Wheels/Suspension
- BC golds
- Work meister Reps, 17x9 15p
- Front castor arms
- Hardrace rear upper camber arms
- Hardrace rear traction arms
- Hardrace rear toe arms
Interior
- Sinco half cage
- NZKW pair of fixed bucket seats
- Sylvester 3 inch 5 point racing harness
- HKS Boost gauge
- HKS type 0 turbo timer
- Nismo White gearknob
- Custom Carbon fibre panel
Fuel system
- Walbro intank 500hp
- Bosch 044 fuel pump
- 2.5 litre surge tank
- Tomei type s fuel reg
- Tomei Gauge
NEXT ON THE PLANS;
Get the fabrication finished then get a new ecu, would love a d-jetro power fc but they are hard to find for my engine an harder to get in new zealand, going offshore would be the best bet to secure one, either that or a link ecu. looking for a modest 250rwkw i will be happy with that, then to be road registered again an who knows my rb30 block will be next haha
Any comments/flames or suggestions are welcome. cheers
Surge tank setup all done
Custom adapter, was cheaper to machine one than buy a tomei one
How the engine looks at the moment, the fuel rail is no good so sinco will make a custom one for me an have the fuel presure regulator coming off that
Wound the bc golds as low as they could go in the rear, then brought rear arms to bring wheels back out
The seats an cage, its all black on black, like to keep it simple
This is how the engine was before i started to do fuel an intake, was fresh from sinco customs
Side view of the intercooler an radiator setup
Video's:
Start up an engine view:
Walk around from twin pipes:
First test drive, found a few bugs:
Second test drive, 10psi twin pipes an screamer:
Third test drive, 10psi no screamer an apexi canon on:

So, I have been enjoying my s15 very much lately, and I’m quite happy with the awesome little sr20det unit but I got to thinking late one night while on Google about people swapping the iconic straight 6 rb26dett into the s chassis cars. Did some research but didn’t turn up any concrete reading material or opinions.
If I was to spend 7-10 thousand on the sr20det over x period of time and aim for around 240-50ish rwkw would you think it’s a better idea to just put that sort of money toward an engine swap that is putting out similar power in its stock oem form? As opposed to spending money modifying an engine to reach said power level but hinder its life and reliability/driveability in the process?
As the topic says, this is just for general talking/chat/opinions. Try to keep the hate between each other to a minimal
What would you say is involved for the diy man to do such a conversion himself if they had access to friends with welding skills, good knowledge on the Nissan engines and mechanics etc. and was to leave tuning and final set up to a reputable shop? What parts, components, custom work, tools would be required? For a street car, how would you go about engineering it, insurance?
Thanks everyone, hope we can get a good, knowledge filled thread going here. I’m sure many Nissan enthusiasts would enjoy a read. Cheers

What you want from a high performance racing oil?
The modern engine designs of today need lubricants that can handle higher running temps to ensure viscosity consistency, while reducing consumption and oil film breakdown. Have you not noticed how modern engine run hotter? They are generally running 10-15deg C hotter or more when supercharged/ turbocharged. This is to improve combustion and reduce emissions.
So how hot is hot when a car overheats? Enough to break down most oils and melt soft metal bearings, that’s how hot. Everyday oils are not able to handle excessive heat though and will reduce in viscosity by as much as 40% once it reaches 130 °C which means a 10w40 will perform like a 10w25.
Motul’s high performance Ester synthetics are designed to handle higher temps without affecting the viscosity. High Performance engines always increase the load pressures placed upon moving components. High lift cams and stiffer valve springs load up the lifters, rocker arms and valve ends. Newer designs incorporate gear driven overhead cams which bring a new challenge. More internal gearing will shear the engine oil faster.
High performance engines also need a balanced friction modifier package so that the ring seals stay strong, roller and ball bearings roll in the race and plain bearings have as little drag as possible.
Because of this, Motul adds Extreme Pressure (EP) additives such as Zinc (ZDDP) and a STRONG EP additive, called a Sulfurized Ester to handle the shear/meshing of the engine. EP additives come into play at the instant an extreme pressure is applied and high temperatures are created.
ZINC lays down a barrier that prevents metal to metal contact and the SULFURIZED ESTER produces a sacrificial film that is destroyed during very strong extreme pressures. The key advantage of Sulfurized Ester is that it prevents SEIZING. EP additives are generally corrosive especially those used in car gearboxes. The other advantage of Esters is that it is far less corrosive and more environmentally safe.
Advertisements for oil products being tested with a ball bearing under 100,000 pounds of pressure fail to mention that most EP additives are corrosive.
Performance engines used in endurance types of competition need strong ANTI-ACID (BASE, TBN, total base number). Condensation (the steam that you see coming out of your tail pipe in the morning) is a natural by-product of combustion in an engine. This condensation, which is acidic water, passes by the rings under compression into the crankcase and mixes with the sulphur, SULFURIC ACID is created. ANTI-ACID (Base) neutralizes the acid before it can cause any damage. E85 engines have it worse. E85 creates a greater acidic dilution than conventional ULP so look for a higher TBN is you run E85.
High revving engines need strong Anti-Foam Additives. Higher RPMs aerates the oil more and bubbles will cause damage to your engine. Why? Foam is air; air will compress and also insulates. Air being compressed under load will separate oil and permit metal to metal contact. It also doesn’t transmit heat from hot metal parts to the oil very well or vice versa. Oil temp’s can rise due to inefficient heat exchange. Another major problem is oil pumps are not designed to pump air and your oil pressure will drop.
Endurance engines need strong dispersants to suspend materials and combustion by-products which are created and rubbed off during normal operations.
If you find worn components in your older race engine, ask yourself a question:
Where did the material go?
It has been compressed and the material is still there, just in a different place; or
The materials were rubbed off and washed right into the oil!
You want the material to stay in tiny pieces and stay mixed in the oil so that the oil filter can do its job. There are many devices on the market now that surround the filter with a magnet to capture some wear metals.
Race engines need a strong detergent. With more heat generation (more horsepower per ci) trying to fry the oil onto the engine parts, carbon build-up and other by-products from combustion need to be washed away quickly so it doesn’t end up clogging the oil galleries.
These are only some of the points Motul considers when designing high performance fluids.
As discussed earlier, synthetics can handle much higher running temperatures than conventional petroleum oils and can withstand more stress. Many people ask, so what! I don’t push my vehicle that hard and I change oil every 3000kms. I don’t need expensive performance oil in my car.
This type of thinking is wrong!
Picture this; it’s a hot summer’s day and you are in peak hour traffic. For whatever reason, your car starts to get hot, real hot (Thermo fan stops working or a radiator hose breaks, whatever it may be).
What oil would you like to have in your car?
A mineral oil that acts like butter which burns up and evaporates very quickly, coking up your piston rings and lifters with carbon.
Or
Motul Synthetic/Ester oil that can handle super high RUNNING temps without the resulting damage (160°C to 190°C)?
Motul High Performance Synthetic Ester oils are INSURANCE not just maintenance. The same is true about brake fluids and gear oils. Brake fluid only fails you when you need it the most – when braking! Same goes for engine oil. For further information regarding the Motul range, visit www.motul.com.au!
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Thought I'd start up a build thread to track the progress of my new project car as i didn't really manage too
with my first project.
Anyway old project turned out like this;
SR20det drift shitter with all your basic mods to make ~300hp and turn a tyre in anger. I've had the car near on 5 years but its probably only seen a years worth of actual road/track use so i have grown bored of it.
****
Enter the new rig. It popped up on a local forum, one owner since being imported into Aus and very well priced. It Looked quite clean and I had always wanted to own a convertible. I went for an inspection, car was not as clean as I had hoped but i saw it had huge potential and after I turned on the ignition... it was hard to say no!
And so the new project begins... Current plans are some basic maintenance/mods it requires to be a good healthy street/track car. However, once these issues are sorted the car will be getting baller rims, stance, custom half cage, a decent 350-400hp highmount setup and all the usual support mods a drift car requires.
Mods list as of when i bought it is;
Engine Modifications
RB26DETT
MoTeC M8 + ignition expander
BNR34 GTR twin turbos (steel-wheel)
Bar/plate FMIC
Trust Grex 1.2mm headgasket
Trust Grex adjustable cam-gears
Trust oil filter relocator
Trust Type-S bov
Nismo engine mounts
Bosch 040 fuel pump (brand new)
Custom baffled sump
Nismo thermostat
R32GTST radiator
Twin 10” thermo fans
Twin K&N pod filters
3BAR MAP sensor
Exterior Modifications
BN Sports front bar
BN Sports side skirts
M-Sports front guards
Vertex rear bar
Widened rear guards
Despoilered
Resprayed in phantom black
Suspension and Wheels Modifications
Rear strut-brace
Nismo twin plate sprung centre clutch
Nismo lightened flywheel
R33GTST 5-speed gearbox
Custom one-piece tailshaft
Nismo gearbox mount
R32 GTST LSD
R32 GTR front brakes
R33 GTST rear brakes
CNC billet hubs (front)
R33 GTST axles/hubs (rear)
18" Starcorp Kaotik rims with 225/40/18 (front) & 255/35/18 (rear) (90%+ tread all-round)
pic on from the day i picked it up...
engine bay...
How it currently sits since chucking in my coilovers and Bride seats (yes car will eventually be lower but with it currently regularly being jacked up for mechanical work this is a more practical height).

I'm From Montreal Canada (and speek french and english but sorry for the mistakes I'll do in adavance )
The Car (not finished yet but will be soon)
Here the laws are much more loose than yours for modification (no special plate, no police checkup if you don't do silly stuff in from of them, we are allowed to swap engine do whatever we want as long a we keep the original point of attatch for the engine and dont modifie the crossmember, stuff like that).
The Cars the sell here are borring, we could import 15 year old RHD from japan but since it was going crasy now since 2 years we can't inspect them anymore so...now we cant plate them anymore... (to many crasy cars for cheap to too young drivers so imagin the reputation of RHD on this side of the planet...) Here the ''cheap fun car'' are old 1990 nissans 240sx (came with the KA24 ) 300zx N\A or TT... and stuff like th but are all eaten by winter salt so all of them are only good for scrap with major rust issues ...
That Said I Found a Mint MINT restored chassis of a 1992 Nissan 240 SX Fastback, (here they are all 240'S with only the flip lights so we had the equivalent of the 180sx and the onevia all with the 2.4 liters KA Either DE or the E ..so our 240sx weren't powerfull at all).
Engine Speaking I choose a RB26 a Rare engine for our region...and swapped in a 180 there is not a lot around here I can tell you... My friend had a blown one in his r32 He parted out and I had my old tranny from my Stolen R32 Rb25 skyline GTST wich I planed to rebuild. So Basicly I decided To Rebuilt the engine with all the mods that we all know to make it reliable and some fancy head I found by luck (a 800 hp 9500rpm (apprently...never seen proof of that) skyline parted out and had a fully built by Hokue Racing Factory engine) At that time I didnt know what was in the head only it had apexi cams and a port and polish. After I brought it to my engine guy he opened it and check it and it was all apexi pink stuff in it cam are Apexi GT step 2 264 duration ...so basicly a very nice head . NICE because I paid the price of the cams for the entire head...good call Mister Bond.
Wanted to keep the twin turbo ...still don't know why, maybe I tought I'd have more response or whatever...well bad choice because my car beeing a LHD the steering colum is in the way to have dual 3 inches downpipes... still made it this way... it's very thight but it fits... BRAVO! I kept the stock manifold, putted 2 Garret GT2860-5 Turbos in there, Tomei Expreme downpipe and a mated to a 4 inches oval SS exausth (5x3 inches ...) 2x3inches downpipe into a 5x3 y pipe si a Killer flow setup I believe... and all the other that have seen it too..
A little list of what is on the engine...I probably forgot some but hey...that will give you an Idea..
Rb26dett :
Head: (built by hokue racing factory in japan) my mecanic made the list for me.
Port N polish
apexi GT step 2 -- 264 duration 10,6lift in/exh ;
apexi pink springs
apexi guides and lifters.
Cometic full gasket kit
ARP head studs.
Oil restrictor
Custom Rear Oil Return to Pan
Greddy Intake
Divided Turbo Outlet
Base;
All balanced
Wiseco piston & rods
Acl race bearings
ARP main bearings studs
N1 oil and water pump
R34 N1 crankshaft
Modified oem oil pan
800 CC seimens deka injectors
OEM manifolds
2xGt2860-5 turbos
tomei expreme 2 1/2 inchs dump pipes.....
4 inches oval strait pipe exausth.
Intercooler I found a used ARC that was in a front clip of a rb26 s13 out here in a JDM junkyard...it's ugly on the pictures but I have made it look better unfold the little fins and paint it black
I made a variable exausth system, via the stock 240sx muffler (no muffler ticket because here...you can swap but not change your exausth) or strait pipe to the ground...stealth mode
I put it on 18 inches pinks Gewalt Evo 2 18x10 +35 on all 4 wheels, (30mm widebody in front, rolled the fenders like crasy in the back) 235 in front 275 in the back. Suspension is all Tein Monoflex , All the arms are made by bings here in canada (www.bings.ca) good stuff... no shipping cost ..no custom...happy me.
In the rear to make it more durable I puted a Skyline GTR R32 Subframe that had a 2way lsd in it... The front brakes are changed to GTR as well.... 5 bolts hubs in front and it's all good to have the nice mags.
I have tons of other stuff but that will do for today I have to do other stuff than computer .
for all the pictures you can go on my photobucket folder it's public :
http://photobucket.com/ThaBIATCH240
I will post some pictures of the build :
that's about it!!! anyone want to go for a ride? here's the keys